Hmmmmm. AT&T released a press release today (that's what you do with press releases -- you release them) letting us all know that the LG Thrill 4G (that's its version of the Optimus 3D) is coming this summer. That narrows it down from the actual announcement of the device in March, which just said "in the coming months." Seeing as how the summer solstice was yesterday, we suppose that could mean we'll be seeing it any day now. Or not. We'll just have to see.

Regardless, what you have to look forward to (be sure to check out our full review of the Optimus 3D) at some point that is not today is a pretty slick Android phone with all of LG's bells and whistles, with 3D recording and playback capabilities and a dedicated 3D section on the phone. Go read that Optimus 3D review again. But believe us when we say you're actually going to want to try this before you judge.

Hands-on redux with the Toshiba Thrive (now with Honeycomb)

It's been more than six months since we brought you the first look at what's now known as the Toshiba Thrive. Back in January, at CES, it was little more than a relatively monster piece of hardware -- including a full SD card slot and USB 2.0 port. Today, it's running Honeycomb. Our man Jared DiPane got a quick and dirty look at the Thrive at the Digital Experience event tonight in New York City, which we present to you here.

HTC EVO 4G+ caught on video

The HTC EVO 4G+, a.k.a. the HTC Rider, has been caught on video at a Korean Youtube channel. The EVO 4G+ is basically the EVO 3D, with WiBro (Korea's version of WiMax 4G), and no 3D camera or playback. As you can see in the video, the snappy operation and Sense 3.0 are there, and on the hardware side the specs (minus the dual cameras and network specs) are the same. In place of the 3D setup you find on Sprint's version, the EVO 4G+ will have a 1080p capable 8MP rear and 1.3 MP front cameras. Further details and an official announcement haven't popped up just yet, but for all intents are purposes it looks like Korea is getting it's own 3D-less EVO 3D.

Bloatware removal on the EVO 3D, average data usage on LTE [From the Forums]

Told you all we had plenty more reviews and such left in us for this week but we're not done quite yet. Although, we may have take slow down a little to play the Angry Birds update. While we do that, you guys should check out some of the forums threads below or jump in there and start up some of your own.

Sprint EVO 3D's pre-launch update might need an update itself

Phone dialer disappears from lock screen after update

It's a phrase we've heard all too often: "Looking at it, something just ain't right." What you see here is the lockscreen on the Sprint HTC EVO 3D after we applied that pre-launch update that fixed a bug in the calendar. As Ozzie1p points out in the Android Central Forums, it looks like it unfixed something in the phone dialer, as the shortcut no longer appears there, nor does it show in the list of apps from which we can chose to put on the lock screen. Whoopsie.

Changing scenes didn't seem to fix it, but a hard reset does, for that what's worth. (So if you get the update first thing and lose the phone dialer, just do a hard reset before setting up your phone.) If anybody else has any better fixes, sing out in the forum thread linked below.

Regardless, it looks like we'll be needing an update for that update, please and thank you.

Angry Birds Seasons Summer Pignic update now live in the Market

We heard yesterday it was coming this summer, and technically it's summer. If you have the Angry Birds Season app installed through the official Android Market, the latest pig pounding update is sitting there ready for you. Promising a new level every day for a month, it looks like another cool update for one of the most popular mobile apps of all time.

Folks who have installed Angry Birds Seasons through the Amazon app store or other markets, no word on when you'll get this one, but it shouldn't be long. The link to the Android Market version is after the break.

Best Buy stores opening early on June 24 for launch of HTC EVO 3D

Are you headed off to Best Buy on Friday to get you hands on an HTC EVO 3D? If so, make sure you get there early. Best Buy has now announced store location will indeed be only early on June 24 to fill demand for the device. Best Buy stores, along with select Best Buy Mobile specialty locations, will open at 8 a.m. local time. Plenty of time for you to grab your new HTC EVO 3D and fire it up before you head on into work -- unless, you're planning on being *cough* sick *cough* that day. Full press release is after the break.

LG Optimus 3D review

Begun, the 3D war has. And whether you're a fan, or a skeptic, there are going to be two high-end phones you can't ignore this summer that have embraced 3D technology. First out of the gate (but just barely) is the LG Optimus 3D. It's a specs powerhouse, LG is promoting it as the world's first "Tri-dual" architecture smartphone with its dual-core OMAP 4 CPU, dual-channel RAM, and dual-channel board configuration. It's a beast, no matter what criteria you use to measure beastliness.

There's more to user experience than specifications though. LG has went all out with a newly revamped UI on top of Android, as well as applications to support the 3D tech in the Optimus 3D. We've kicked the Optimus 3D around for a while, and put it through the paces, so have a look after the break and see how the sum of the parts works as a whole before it hits AT&T later this summer as the Thrill 4G.

Rogers lowers pricing for the LG Optimus Pad

We're guessing someone at Rogers corporate offices woke up from their money-filled dreams and realized that if you want to sell tablets, they need to be somewhat reasonably priced if you're also going to be taking on a new 3-year contract as well as handing over $300 or more in cold, hard cash.

With this realization came a price drop for the LG Optimus Pad which was previously set at $449 and is now sitting at $254 with a 3-year contract while the outright cost, no-contract drops to $549 from $699. Still pretty hefty but hey, it's still less then a Motorola Xoom. That has to count for something, right?

Huawei Glory will bring high-end Android to Cricket for $300

Are you ready for a high-end Android phone, on a prepaid unlimited $45 plan, checking in at under $300? Cricket Wireless thinks you are, and will be offering the Huawei Glory to foot the bill. Checking in with a 1.4 GHz CPU, a 4-inch 854x480 screen, an 8MP camera and Gingerbread (Android 2.3.3), the Glory looks like it's filling the promises we heard last year about high-end, low cost components that will push Android into as many hands as possible.

According to Sasha Segan (PCMag), Huawei has edited a few things away from stock, but the Glory doesn't have a heavy manufacturer skin. It does have a huge 1900 mAh battery and a very bright LCD screen. To sweeten the whole pot, Huawei also says the Glory will be updated to Ice Cream Sandwich when it's available.

Will great phones on pre-paid carriers (see the Motorola Triumph on Virgin Mobile) become commonplace? I certainly hope so.

Samsung brings the Series 5 Chromebook to Europe

Samsung announced today that the Series 5 Chromebook will be available in parts of Europe starting June 24. Folks in the UK, Spain, France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands will be able to get their hands on the worlds first retail Chromebook for €399 for the Wifi model (£349 in the UK) and €449 for the 3G model (£399 in the UK). Over the coming months the rest of Europe will see these become available as well.

If you're not familiar with the specs, have a look here. The concept is simple -- hardware that runs everything through the Chrome browser. It's a throwback to the days of terminal/server computing, but done with the modern cloud. We had a good look at the new Chromebooks at Google I/O, and I have to admit -- they have me intrigued. They are pricey, but look beautiful and will give the masses a chance to try Google's Chrome OS on hardware designed for it. We should be getting a couple of our own here shortly, and we'll give them a work over. In the meantime, the Chromebook forums are open for business. Hit the break to see the full press release.

Google Goggles gets an update, now knows Russian

Having been previewed last week as an upcoming feature to Google Goggles, the Goggles team has now made the Russian optical character recognition (OCR) and translation update available for all. What that breaks down to for end-users is that Google Goggles now has the ability to read Russian (Cyrillic) as well, translate it into any of 40 other available languages all by simply snapping a pic of the text needing translated and letting Goggles scan it.

In addition to the OCR update, if you have search history enabled -- you can now get a map view of previous search results that shows you exactly where you used Google Goggles and what, exactly it was that you searched for. As noted by Google, the search list often gets long and this new "view" allows you to quickly find the info rather then needing to scroll through a long list.

Finally, Google has added the ability to copy information from searches to your clipboard. For example, if you capture a number or contact info via Google Goggles -- that info, when scanned can now be copied to your directly to your address book. The update is live now in the Android Market, download link can be found past the break.

Verizon's new data plans broken down in complete detail

Having a hard time wrapping your head around the upcoming changes to Verizon's smartphone data plans? We just got all the dirty details dropped in our laps. Charts, e-mails, the whole kit and kaboodle, folks.

Let's start with what you see above. That's the official chart from the official training document (which you can see in full after the break.) As previously rumored, smartphone plans will start at 2GB for $30 a month, with $10 per gigabyte if you go over. There also are 5GB/$50 and 10GB for $80 plans. Unlimited plans are dead. These rates apply to 3G smartphones and 4G LTE smartphones.

Mobile hotspot access will cost $20 a month for 2GB of data.

Other points to note (many of which are detailed in an internal e-mail we've posted after the break):

If you have Verizon's $29.99 unlimited data plan, you'll be able to keep it after July 7.

You'll also be able to keep the $29.99 unlimited plan when you upgrade to a new phone. (No word on if there's a pricing difference or when that policy could change.)

If you add a line to an existing account, you'll not be able to chose the $29.99 unlimited data plan.

If you're a new customer between now and July 7, you'll still be able to choose the $29.99 plan.

So if you're in the market for a Verizon phone and want to get in on the current unlimited plans before the major changes take effect, you've got two weeks, folks.

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